Worker safety and environmental concerns are increasingly impactful on the selection of application methods for the production of roadways. For many years, bitumen emulsions have provided routes to application methods free of volatile solvents and with greatly reduced application temperatures. For this reason, there is an increasing need for emulsifiers and emulsifiers systems that provide control of emulsion stability under different site specific conditions.
Emulsifiers are used in bituminous asphalt compositions to provide desired rheological properties during application of the compositions to a surface, i.e. to provide workability for a time period at a given composition temperature, followed by breaking of the emulsion for setting of the composition on the substrate. Asphalt formulations are in need of modification to meet performance expectations.